Horses to follow on the Flat at Doncaster this weekend
Our man picks out a handful of interesting entries among the confirmations for Doncaster's opening Flat meeting this Saturday and Sunday.
If you’ve ever sat there staring into space for 10 seconds trying to recall what won the previous year's Guineas the Monday after Cheltenham, then rest assured you are not alone.
We’re now entering what is commonly referred to as that time of year, when the brain can struggle to cope with what always feels like a lengthy period racing crossover - first-season sires aiming to hit the ground running at the Curragh while we’re all simultaneously anticipating the next major developments over jumps at Fairyhouse, Punchestown, Aintree or Sandown. Is Sergei Prokofiev a snip at £6,000? Can a resurgent Nicky Henderson match Willie Mullins' nine Cheltenham winners on Merseyside next month?!
Chaldean is the name you may have been internally scrambling for while processing the previous paragraph, but I can’t blame anyone for taking a day or two to emerge from the post-Festival fog as it can be all consuming if you allow it.
Like it or lump it though, the Flat is back and while the truncated start to the British summer (ha!) campaign can be a tad frustrating, Doncaster’s two-day opening fixture this weekend looks to have attracted no shortage of quality and quantity.
Here are my five names to note.
VETIVER (Andrew Balding)
Two weekend entries for the Cheveley Park-owned filly Vetiver and it'll be no surprise to see her show up in the Lincoln itself after she signed off last term with a good run when fifth off the same mark in the Balmoral Handicap on Champions Day.
She’d previously not been disgraced when a keeping-on third behind runaway winner Matilda Picotte in the seven-furlong Sceptre Stakes here on Town Moor and she very much looks the type to kick on again for Andrew Balding this term.
ORAZIO (Charlie Hills)
I won’t have been the only one to have had their fingers burned by Orazio in top-level handicaps last season but, such was the impression he made at Newmarket and Ascot in April and May, it’s surely too soon to be giving up the ghost.
It’s not like he ran badly in the Wokingham or the Ayr Gold Cup either, and he clearly got stuck in the mud – along with a bunch of others – when the ground was barely raceable in the Stewards’ Cup.
Charlie Hills knows the time of day with this type of older sprinter and he won the 2021 Cammidge with a horse (Royal Commando) who had looked to have gone off the boil in the previous summer/autumn too.
CHANTICO (Adrian Keatley)
It happens a lot in these early exchanges of the Flat season – horses not seen on turf for ages make the switch from all-weather action and some can find themselves incredibly well handicapped.
I’m not sure I can argue that’s the case with Chantico but he’s definitely an interesting runner if lining up as he’s only had five starts since moving from Roger Varian’s to Adrian Keatley – all of which have been on synthetic surfaces – and he’s come down 10lb since leaving Newmarket.
The five-year-old also produced his first meaningful piece of form for current connections when an eye-catching fourth after another slow start over a mile at Newcastle just last week and a return to 10 furlongs on Saturday, having won over this trip for Varian last March, could be a very positive sign.
CONSERVATIONIST (Kevin Ryan)
When Kevin Ryan picks one up at the horses-in-training sales that has been running over longer trips and enters them in sprint handicaps, I have to prevent myself immediately thinking of the Ayr Gold Cup.
That sort of race is clearly a little fanciful in this instance, but Muhaarar filly Conservationist has joined the team at Hambleton after changing hands for 40,000 guineas in the autumn and, having been running over a mile since her debut in August 2022, may just benefit from a drop in trip for her new yard.
She's a full sister to a six furlong juvenile winner (Custodian), while the dam Zuhoor Baynoona is a half-sister to Group 1 winner Hello Youmzain, both of whom Ryan trained, so this looks an interesting project and one I'll be monitoring closely in future even if she's not declared this weekend.
RATHGAR (Jack Channon)
Rathgar very nearly came good on his final start at three and should be able to kick on this term, given his sheer size and scope. The son of Ulysees, who remarkably managed to win a two-year-old race at Goodwood, went through 2023 without adding to his tally but he shaped well on a number of occasions including when third to Chesspiece in a warm contest at York's Dante meeting in May.
He got back on track there when last seen in September and has only been nudged up a couple of pounds ahead of his seasonal reappearance. It's hoped a winter gelding operation can help the horse realise his fully potential as his dam is a half-sister to the same stable's Johan who won this fixture's principal contest first time out two years ago.
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